


Listening in Silence

by Tsukino_Akume



Series: The Backstories Verse [5]
Category: Power Rangers in Space
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-17
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-02-13 12:22:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2150550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsukino_Akume/pseuds/Tsukino_Akume
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Andros has always hated silence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Listening in Silence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Phantom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantom/gifts).



> **Disclaimer/:** Don't own it. Lucky for Andros.  
>  **Warnings/:** Lots of angst, because it's Andros. Emotional and Mental issues. References to a form of self-harm.  
>  **Author's Notes/:** rosabelle asked for Andros and D.E.C.A. pre-series for her birthday. I don't know that this is what you were hoping for sweetie, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ♥
> 
> (I swear I love you.)

He hates the silence the most.

When he was tiny, the world was full of the sound of Karone's laughter. His sister laughed and smiled at everything. She always wanted to play and learn and discover, dragging him along on every adventure she could find. 

Then she was gone, and the laughter wasn't there anymore. 

Instead there was the sound of his father's quiet voice, trying to soothe him when he cried for her at night. The sound of the animals on their small farm, of birds and wind and nature. There was sound, but the laughter was gone, and suddenly everything was unbearably quiet. 

When he was thirteen he ran away to the city, searching for noise and laughter and Karone. He wrote to his father, out of guilt more than anything, but he couldn't bear to hear that quiet voice promising him it wasn't his fault anymore. Not when it was entirely his fault she was gone. 

Barely a month later, the Red Morpher found him, and suddenly his life was full of Power Rangers and training and noisy, rambunctious teammates who couldn't and wouldn't accept that he wanted to be left alone. Silver was the worst, constantly invading his space and and his comfort zone. He pushed and pushed and _pushed_ , until Andros found himself screaming at him to _go away_ because he couldn't stand the noise anymore, and suddenly they were friends. Best friends, even. 

He still didn't understand how. But Zhane was always there whether he wanted him or not, and the world wasn't silent anymore. And when he tried to leave the noise behind, to find the silence again, Zhane was always there, dragging him back out into the noise of the world. 

And then the invasion happened. 

Suddenly the world was explosions and late-night strategy sessions and fear. So much fear. It was sleeping huddled together in a tent, claiming it was so it would be easier to find each other when the next wave came and they were needed. Knowing it was really because they were terrified of what was happening, what would happen. Of everyone looking to them, to _him_ , to save them. To lead them. To be the hero their world so desperately needed, that he didn't know how to be. 

And then Zhane was gone, KO-35 surrendered to Dark Spectre, and he was alone in the silence at last. 

D.E.C.A. talked to him constantly in the beginning. She suggested places he might be able to find allies willing to provide supplies when they started to run low. For every team of Rangers that threatened and attacked him or merely banished him as a Rogue, D.E.C.A. had a new name to offer. When she ran out of names, she began prompting planets. When she ran out of Alliance planets, she suggested neutral areas. She gave him strategical advice based on old reference files in her database whenever he prepared to leave for a mission. She pestered him about visiting the infirmary when he returned after the mission failed. She constantly pushed at him to eat more, sleep more, slow down, take better care of himself. 

After two months, he shut off her voice. 

Music started playing throughout the ship in its place: soft melodies late at night, cheerful energetic songs in the morning, and a variety of things he knew and didn't interspaced throughout the day. He wasn't sure where she was finding it, but it was less annoying than the lectures, so he tolerated it. It was noise, but it was a noise he could ignore most of the time. 

The nightmares started up again three weeks later. 

Dreams of Karone's voice screaming for help. His father promising it wasn't his fault. Zhane shouting for him to run. The announcement of KO-35's surrender. 

He turned off the ship's speakers entirely, silencing the music. 

D.E.C.A. initially showed her displeasure by closing doors in his face when he was distracted. The lift ran painfully slow, and food from the synthetron never tasted right. Overhead lights would sometimes suddenly turn off if he'd been up later than usual. 

He didn't complain. The silence was better anyway. 

Months passed. Eventually the lift started to run on time again, and he stopped walking into closed doors or suddenly found himself sitting in the dark. But the food never did taste quite right anymore. 

He accepted it, along with the silence. 

In the silence he can hear Karone's voice screaming for him. He can hear his father's soothing tones, even if he can't always remember what he used to say anymore. He can hear Zhane's last words. 

He hates the silence. 

But he hates the thought of losing their voices to the noise again even more.


End file.
